Musical toys



July 8, 1969 LOHR ETAL MUS I CAL TOYS Sheet Filed March 28, 1967 W5 [5 I? F a a E\ EWRWRV INVENTORS RAYMOND J. LOHR WALTER HUBIAK RICHARD N. CARVER A TORNEYS July 8, 1969 J, LOHR ETAL 3,453,921

MUSICAL TOYS Filed March E, 1967 Sheet 2 014 W F/G.3 H I I H V INVENTORS RAYMOND J. LOHR ATTORNEXS Jul y8,1 969 J,LQHR Em MUSICAL TOYS Filed March 28, 1967 Sheet omxmiz wmjoI z wIF 6 5:66 m5 2. Gm

kxmri INVENTORS J. LOHR ATTORNEYS July 8, 1969 R. J. LQHR ETAL MUS ICAL TOYS Fil ed March 28, 1967 Sheet 5 R as R E 0% V .F H K N m m M V T N UN T IW A R D M WU AAK 4 v RWR v Y M) I United States Patent 3,453,921 MUSICAL TOYS Raymond J. Lohr, Walter Hubiak, and Richard N. Carver, Erie, Pa., assignors to Louis Marx & Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 626,523 Int. Cl. A6311 /00; Gd 13/08 U.S. Cl. 84-402 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A musical toy having bars of different lengths, respectively, for producing different musical notes, respectively, when the bars are struck. These bars are carried by a vehicle which is guided for movement along a given path, and in addition the vehicle carries a plurality of action mechanisms which respectively coact with the bars for striking the latter When the action mechanisms are actuated. A plurality of pegs are selectively .arranged in paths along with the action mechanisms move to selectively actuate the latter to strike predetermined bars so as to provide a preselected sequence in the striking thereof. The toy may simulate a train having a locomotive which pulls a car which carries the bars and the action mechanisms, or the toy may simulate a motor truck the rear portion of which carries the bars and the action mechanisms.

Background of the invention The invention relates generally to musical toys of the Xylophone type, which is to say the type of musical toy which includes elongated bars of different lengths which when struck will produce predetermined musical notes.

With toys of this type it is possible, for example, to arrange the bars along a given path with a plurality of action mechanisms respectively provided for the bars so that when these mechanisms are actuated the bars will produce musical notes resulting from the striking of the bars by the action mechanisms respectively coating therewith. With an arrangement of this type a toy vehicle can carry in selected positions suitable pegs which will engage predetermined action mechanisms in a predetermined sequence during movement of the toy vehicle so as to bring about a preselected sequential striking of the bars.

While constructions of this type can be designed to give satisfactory results, nevertheless they suffer from the disadvantage of requiring a large number of bars to produce the musical notes as well as a large number of action mechanisms to strike the bars. Furthermore, the possible variations in the positioning of the pegs to produce pre selected combinations of notes are limited. Also, the structure requires a large space and a large number of components to support the bars properly so that they will not vibrate excessively when they are struck.

Summary of the invention In accordance with the invention, only one set of musical bars is carried by a toy vehicle which is guided by a guide means for movement along the path determined by the guide means. This vehicle also carries a plurality of action means which respectively coact with the bars to respectively strike the latter when the plurality of action means are actuated, and a plurality of actuating means are respectively arranged along the paths of movement of predetermined action means to engage and actuate the latter while the vehicle moves along the path determined by the guide means, so that in this way a preselected sequential striking of the bars can be achieved.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a musical toy of the above general type which will be capable of providing any selected combination of notes while utilizing only a single group of bars.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure of this type which requires only a relatively small number of action mechanisms, since only a small number of bars are required.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide a relatively simple structure which occupies only a relatively small space while at the same time achieving the desired results.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a construction which makes it very easy to provide a preselected combination of notes.

The objects of the present invention also include the provision of a structure which renders the bars accessible for striking in the manner of a Xylophone, so that the bars can be manually struck instead of being struck by the action mechanisms, and in this way the structure lends itself to use for teaching music as well as for entertainment by reproduction of musical songs. Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

Brief description of the drawings For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one possible embodiment of a musical toy according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the vehicle of FIGS. 1 and 2 with part of the upper structure removed to show the details of the action mechanisms therebeneath;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary bottom plan View of the track structure as it appears from beneath the latter;

FIG. 6 is a transverse section of the structure of FIG. 4 taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 4 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG, 7 illustrates an instruction card used with the structure and giving directions for deriving from the structure a predetermined song;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary top plan view of another embodiment of a track of the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective illustration of another embodiment of a musical toy according to the present invention.

Description 0 preferred embodiments Referring to FIG. 1, the musical toy 10 illustrated therein includes a circular track 12 forming a guide means for guiding the toy vehicle 14 along the circular path determined by the configuration of the track 12. A propelling means 16 in the form of a toy locomotive, for example, is operatively connected with the vehicle 14 for propelling the latter along the track 12. For this purpose the vehicle 14 pivotally carries adjacent its inner side a hook 18 which is hooked into a suitable eye at the rear of the propelling means 16. The toy locomotive which forms the propelling means 16 can be any conventional toy locomotive which is spring or battery driven and which has wheels 20 (FIG. 2) which engage the rails 22 of the track 12 to be guided thereby.

The guide means which is formed by the track 12 includes an inner circular upstanding wall 24 and an outer circular upstanding wall 26 (FIG. 5), these walls being stepped as shown in FIG. 5 so that they will have the required rigidity. The entire track 12 can be made of any suitable plastic, for example. Just beneath the upper edge portions of the walls 24 and 26, which form at their upper edge portions the rails 22, respectively, the track or guide means 12 includes a circular transverse wall 28 (FIGS. 4 and provided at its underside with integral stiffening ribs 30, Also, transverse struts 32 (FIG. 5) extend between and are joined to the walls 24, 26 for increasing the strength thereof.

The upper surface of the transverse wall 28 carries division lines 34 which extend radially across the wall 28, as shown in FIG. 1, these lines being imprinted on the upper surface of the wall 28 or provided thereon in any suitable way. The division lines 34 divided the upper surface of the wall 28 into the areas 36 which simulate railroad ties and which are sequentially numbered 1 through 48 in the illustrated example. These numbered areas 36 are formed with a plurality of openings 38 (FIG. 6), and beside these openings there are located on the upper surface of the wall 28 letters of the alphabet to identify these openings, as shown in FIG. 1, for a purpose referred to below.

The vehicle 14 has a pair of side walls 40 interconnected by a rear wall 42 and a front wall 44, and it is to the lower surface of the front wall 44 that the hook 18 is pivotally connected in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 4. The side walls 40 are additionally interconnected by a rear bottom wall portion 46 which extends forwardly from the rear wall 42 and by a front bottom wall portion 48 which is spaced from the rear bottom wall portion 46 in the manner shown in FIG. 4.

The side walls 40 are provided at their upper edges will outwardly directed horizontal flanges 50 (FIG. 6), and these flanges carry rubber sound-deadening strips 52, as indicated in FIG. 6 As may be seen from FIG. 3, the side walls 40 and the flanges 50 converge toward the rear of the vehicle 14, and the flanges 50 are formed at their ends with the notches 54. The rubber strips 52 are in the form of endless bands respectively stretched around the flanges 50 and received in the notches 54 thereof, as shown most clearly in FIG. 3.

The top wall 56 of the vehicle 14 has the stepped configuration indicated in FIG. 3 so that this top wall is spaced for the greater part of its length from the right side wall 40 of FIG. 6. The top wall 56 is provided with integral ribs 58 extending inwardly from the left wall 40 of FIG. 6 at the junctions between the steps of the top wall, and it is these ribs 58 which carry the left flange 50 of FIG. 6, the right flange 50 of FIG. 6 being integral with the right wall 40, and suitable strengthening ribs 50, such as those shown in FIG. 2, may be provided between the flanges 50 and the side wall at the exterior of the latter. The vehicle body which is formed by all of these walls may be of a one piece construction and can be made from any suitable plastic, for example.

Tapered pairs of pins 62 (FIG. 6) are integrally formed with the flanges 50 and extend upwardly therefrom at the region of their inner edges, so that the pairs of tapered pins 62 are arranged as indicated in FIG 3. Elongated bars 64, which have downwardly directed concave surfaces and which are similar to Xylophone bars, are respectively formed with openings which receive the pins 62 with clearance, and these bars 64 are arranged in an order of decreasing length from the front toward the rear of the vehicle 14 with the bars extending transversely across the vehicle in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the vehicle determined by the guide means 12. Thus, these bars 64 will each have front and rear edges resting on the sound-deadening strips 52. Because of their different lengths, these bars 64 will provide different musical notes, respectively, when they are struck.

In order to limit the upward movement of the bars 64 when they are struck, there is situated over these bars, in a position extending longitudinally and centrally of the vehicle, an elongated limiting strip 66 formed with a row of apertures 68 and having an integral upper longitudinal rib 70 extending across these apertures 68 longitudinally of the strip 66. At its rear end the strip 66 has a depending flange 72 fixed in any suitable way to the rear wall 42, as by pins 74 (FIG. 4), and at its front end the strip 66 has an integral, stepped flange 76 fixed to the top of the front wall 44, as by a pin 78. It will be noted that the tapered pins 62 terminate substantially at the elevation of the lower surface of the strip 66 and are situated outwardly beyond the latter, so that in this way the strip 66 will retain the bars 64 freely movable in a vertical direction on the tapered pins 62. The rib 70 strengthens the strip 66 while the various bars 64 are visible through the openings 68 thereof.

The side walls 40 carry transverse wheel axles 80 on which are mounted, outwardly beyond the side walls 40, wheels 82 which engage the rails 22, in the manner shown most clearly in FIGS. 4 and 6.

The several bars 64 are adapted to be struck by a plurality of action means, respectively, which are carried by the vehicle 14. For this purpose the several steps of the top wall 56 carry at their longitudinal surfaces which are directed toward the right wall 40 of FIG. 6 pivot pins 84, respectively, on which hammers 86 of the several action means are respectively mounted for pivotal swinging movement. Thus, the right hammer 86 of FIG. 4 is shown in dot-dash lines in its position striking the right bar 64 of FIG. 4. Below their pivotal supports 84, the several hammers 86 are pivotally connected to connecting rods or strips 88 of various lengths extending both forwardly and rearwardly, depending upon the location of a given hammer with respect to the center of the vehicle, between the front and rear ends thereof. At this center of the vehicle there is a transverse rod 90 carried by and extending between the side walls 40, and this rod 90 pivotally supports a row of action levers 92 for swinging movement thereof. The several action levers 92 are respectively provided with depending fingers 94 which are clearly apparent in FIG. 6. These levers 92 have upper semi-circular portions carrying headed pins 96 which are received in elongated slots formed in ends of the strips 88 which respectively overlap the action levers 92. These semicircular portions of the action levers terminate at their lower edges in ribs directed toward the right, as viewed in FIG. 6, and respectively integrally connected with the fingers 94 so as to form T-shaped members therewith. Thus, these iribs have forwardly directed portions 98 and rearwardly directed portions 100.

Fixed to the underside of the front bottom wall portion 48, as by screws 102 (-FIG. 4), is a leaf spring 104 which is suitably slotted inwardly of its right edge, as viewed in FIG. 4, so as to have a plurality of springy fingers 106 which respectively engage the undersides of the forwardly extending fingers 98. In a similar manner, as by screws '108, leaf spring 110 is fixed to the underside of the wall 46 adjacent the front edge thereof, and this leaf spring 110 is slotted inwardly from its forward edge so as to be provided with a plurality of springy fingers 112 which normally rest against the lower surfaces of the rearwardly directed fingers of the T-shaped portions of the action levers 92.

The row of depending fingers 94 of the plurality of action means form portions thereof which are respectively adapted to be engaged by a plurality of actuating means which are selectively placed in the paths along which the several actuating means move during movement of the vehicle 14 along the path determined by the guide means 12. The plurality of actuating means take the form a plurality of pegs 114 (FIG. 4) having elongated cylindrical rod sections 116 fixedly carrying intermediate their ends collars 118, respectively. The po rtions of the rods 16 which extend downwardly from the collars 118 are adapted to be received in the openings 38 of the wall 28, and the operator can selectively place a predetermined number of the actuating means 114 in selected openings 38. In accordance with the selection of the positions for the plurality of actuating means 114, the various action means will be actuated in a given sequence and in a given combination during movement of the vehicle 14 along the path determined by the guide means 12, and the result is that predetermined bars 64 will be struck in a given sequence and in a given combination which has been preselected to provide, for example, a certain song. Thus, referring to FIGS. 4 and 6 it will be seen that the extreme right action means of FIG. 6 has its depending finger 94 engaged by one of the actuating means 114. During movement of the vehicle toward the left, as viewed in FIG. 4, this finger 94 will ride over the actuating means 114 which is situated in its path of movement, with the result while the vehicle moves the action lever 92 turns about the shaft 90 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 4, resulting in deflection of the springy fingers 106 and 112 which coact with this particular action means. Through the pin'96 the turning of the lever 92 is transmitted to the connecting strip of rod 88 which in turn transmits the motion to the hammer 86 which in this case is the rearmost hammer. As soon as the free end of the depending finger 94 rides off the top end of the peg 114, thev springs 106 and 112 act to forcefully return the action lever 92 into its original position, with the result that the connecting strip 88 is pushed to cause the hammer 86 connected thereto to swing upwardly and strike the bar 64 with which it coacts, and the movement of the bar during the striking thereof is indicated in dot-dash lines at the upper right portion of FIG. 4. All of the several action means operate in this way. The only difference is that those action means which are situated to the rear of a vertical plane which contains the axis of the shaft '90 have their connecting strips 88 pushed during return of the action means to its starting position after its depending finger rides off a peg, while those action means which are situated forwardly of this plane have their connecting strips 88 pulled during swinging of the hammers thereof into striking engagement with their respective bars 64.

In order to enable the operator to determine where to place the pegs for actuating means 114, a direction card such as that shown in FIG. 7 may be used. This card 120 may be placed in the center of the track, as indicated by the directions thereon, and it will be noted that it has a circular area divided into radially extending sections which correspond to the radially extending sections demarcated on the upper surface of the wall 28 by the lines 34. The several openings of the areas 36 of the wall 28 have representations thereof duplicated on the card, and certain of these openings have asterisks, as indicated on the card, indicating which openings are to receive the pegs. Thus, by providing on the wall 28 an arrangement of the pegs which corresponds to the arrangement indicated by the card 120, these pegs will be situated to actuate predetermined action mechanisms in a predetermined sequence as the vehicle 14 progresses along the track 12, so as to reproduce a given song.

In order to be able to reproduce with the musical toy of the invention a given number of songs, the various areas 36 can be provided with different numbers of openings as indicated in FIG. 1. However, a more flexible arrangement may be provided as indicated in FIG. 8 where the several railroad tie simulating elements 122 are each provided with eight openings 124, and since there are eight bars 64 and eight action means respectively coacting therewith, this arrangement permits any desired action means to be actuated by the selected position of a peg at any one of the ties 122, so that a far wider range of selections can be made with an arrangement as shown in FIG. 8. The embodiment of FIG. 8 also differs from that of FIG. 1 in that the guide means of this embodiment is simply formed by a pair of concentric cylindrical walls 126 and 128 respectively formed with suitable openings through which the ties 122 extend and to which the latter are fixed in any suitable way with ends of the ties projecting beyond the space between the walls 126 and 128, as indicated-in FIG. 8 so that a construction which more closely simulates an actual railroad is provided. Otherwise, the embodiment of FIG. 8 is the same as that described above and can accommodate the same vehicle 14 and propelling means 16 which will have their wheels riding along the rails of the track formed by the portions of the walls 126 and 128 which project upwardly beyond the ties 122.

Instead of using a guide means which simulates a railroad track, it is possible to use, as indicated in FIG. 9, a guide means 130 in the form of a flat bed 132 composed of a series of sections which are joined to each other in a well known manner in end-to-end relation, this fiat bed 132 beingformed with a groove 134 which receives the lower 'end'of a pin 136 depending from the vehicle 136, so as to guide the latter. This vehicle may either be selfpropelled by a suitable spring or battery drive or it may be electrically driven through an electrical circuit in the manner of well known toy racing cars which use flat beds similar to the flat bed 132.

The vehicle 138 simulates a motor truck and has a forward cab portion 140 and a rear portion 142 directly fixed to the cab 140 and carrying the bars 144 which may be identical with the bars 64 and which are actuated in the same way by identical action means all of which are carried by the portion 142 of the vehicle 138 in the manner described above and shown in FIG. 4. The only difference in the arrangement of the bars 144 as compared to the bars 64 is that the shortest bar 144 is situated at the front end of the row of bars while the longest bar 64 is situated at the front end of the row of bars 64.

The several sections of the bed 132 are each provided with a series of transverse rows of openings 146, four on each side of the central guiding groove 134, and these openings are adapted to selectively receive the pegs or actuating means 114 which will actuate the plurality of action means during movement of the vehicle 138 to provide a preselected sequence and combination of striking of the bars 144 to provide a selected song. With the arrangement of FIG. 9 it is also possible to use a direction card similar to that shown in FIG. 7.

It Will be noted that with the structure of the invention the flat car simulating vehicle 14 and the motor truck simulating vehicle 138 are each provided with a freely accessible series of eight bars capable of being struck by a mallet in a manner similar to a conventional Xylophone, so that the structure can be played in a manner similar to a Xylophone without requiring movement of the vehicle along the guide means. As a result of this feature it is possible for an operator to practice a tune on the bars with a mallet so as to determine the sequence in which the various bars are to be struck in order to provide a given tune, and then in accordance with the determination of this sequence the operator can place pegs in corresponding locations. Therefore, it is not essential to use a card as shown in FIG. 7 and it is possible with the structure of the invention for the opeartor to improvise and provide whatever tunes are desired by first playing the tunes in the manner of a conventional Xylophone. It is to be noted that these latter operations have considerable teaching value since they will teach the operator certain tunes, and thus the toy of the invetnion is educational as well as entertaining.

As was indicated above, considerable advantages are achieved with the structure of the invention by requiring only a single set of bars. Thus, only eight musical bars are required for each embodiment, and this of course is a considerable advance over an arrangement where a musical bar is required to be placed over each tie or tie-simulating area. And additional advantage which is derived from the structure of the invention resides in the fact that it is possible to easily achieve the playing of chords. Thus, by situating in any transverse row of openings more than one peg, a plurality of the musical bars will be simultaneously struck to achieve preselected chords, and thus the structure of the invention avoids the serious limitations of being able to strike only one bar at one time.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efiiciently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings will be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A musical toy comprising a toy vehicle carrying a plurality of bars which when struck provide difierent musical notes, respectively, guide means coacting with said vehicle for guiding the latter along a path determined by said guide means, a plurality of action means carried by said vehicle and respectively coacting with said bars for striking the latter to produce said ditterent musical notes, respectively, when said plurality of action means are actuated, and a plurality of actuating means respectively situated in paths along which at least some of said action means move during travel of said vehicle along said path determined by said guide means for respectively actuating predetermined action means to strike predetermined bars and thus provide predetermined notes, said bars having exposed freely accessible upper surfaces and said plurality of action means being situated beneath said bars for striking the latter from beneath, so that said bars may be manually struck, if desired.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said plurality of actuating means are distributed along said path determined by said guide means for respectively actuating said predetermined action means in a predetermined sequence.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a selective positioning means coacts with said plurality of actuating means for positioning the latter at selected locations in the paths of movement of predetermined action means for selectively actuating preselected action means in a preselected sequence during movement of said vehicle along said paths determined by said guide means.

4. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a propelling means coacts with said vehicle for propelling the latter along said path determined by said guide means.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said propelling means is separate from and connected to said vehicle for propelling the latter, and said guide means 8 also coacting with said propelling means for guiding the latter along said path determined by said guide means.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said guide means is a track, said vehicle simulates a car which moves on said track, and said propelling means simulates a locomotive which also moves on said track and which is connected to said car for pulling the latter, said plurality of actuating means being carried by said track.

'7. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said propelling means is fixed to and forms part of said vehicle.

8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said vehicle simulates a motor truck having a rear portion carrying said bars and said plurality of action means, and said guide means having the form of a flat bed formed with a groove, said vehicle having a pin received in said groove to be guided thereby during movement of the vehicle along said bed, and said bed carrying said plurality of actuating means.

9. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said bars are arranged in a row extending in the direction of movement of the vehicle along the path determined by said guide means with each bar extending transversely across the latter path.

10. The combination of claim 9 and wherein said plurality of action means respectively have actuating portions which when moved bring about the actuation of said plurality of action means, and said actuating portions being distributed transversely with respect to said path determined by said guide means, and said guide means being formed wtih a plurality of openings distributed therealong, said actuating means including a plurality of pegs respectively received selectively in said openings and supported by said guide means in the paths along which said actuating portions move for engaging the latter to provide a preselected actuation of said plurality of action means so as to provide a preselected sequential striking of said bars.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1950 Rest et al 84-404 7/1925 Steele 84-102 US. Cl. X.R. 

